QUESTION

Do I have to turn over money in a bank account shared between my now deceased father and I? Or is the money mine now?

Asked on Apr 08th, 2019 on Trusts and Estates - California
More details to this question:
My dad and I shared a bank account because I was his caregiver in everyway. I comingled our funds. He passed away last week and the trustee wants me to close the account and hand over all the money. Do I have to or is the account and money mone now? She even disclosed past statements to another beneficiary.
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1 ANSWER

Estate Planning Attorney serving Woodland, CA
Partner at Sonin Law
3 Awards
The presumption is that a joint account belongs to the surviving joint account holder. That presumption can be overcome if it can be shown that the other holder was just put on for convenience. That is usually shown by showing that all the funds in the account came from the older person. In your case, you can apparently show that you put your own funds in the account also, which gives you a stronger case. In any event, the trustee has no authority over the account, since it was not in the trust. If the trustee is also the executor, she may attempt to fight to gain control of the account. You have to decide whether you want to fight about this. If it had all been your dad's money, I would have encouraged you to voluntarily split the funds with other beneficiaries.
Answered on Apr 22nd, 2019 at 8:50 AM

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